FRISCO — At halftime of Friday’s showdown of unbeatens, the Frisco Liberty band played Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” The song title probably echoed the feelings of the Liberty football team as it ran to the locker room at Pizza Hut Park.

After a horrible first half, Liberty wasn’t going to take it anymore. But against Frisco Centennial’s dominating defense, there wasn’t much Liberty could do about it as Centennial rolled to a 34-13 win.

“Score early and then hit them in the mouth,” Centennial defensive lineman Chase Appleby said. “That was the whole game plan.”

It went just as planned for Centennial (6-0, 3-0 in District 9-4A), which had a 31-0 lead by early in the third quarter. Centennial, the No. 4 team in SportsDay’s Class 4A area rankings, held Liberty (5-1, 2-1) to 117 total yards, intercepted three passes and forced eight punts. The Centennial defense was so dominant that, even when Liberty’s defense held Centennial without a first down in the second half, the Titans were never threatened.

“Our defense has carried us all year,” Centennial coach Mark Howard said. “Offensively, we did enough to put up some points.”

After a slow start, Centennial’s offense had two nice touchdown drives in the second quarter. Centennial got in the end zone with a pretty 30-yard pass from Lamar Jordan to Zach McCown and then on a 2-yard run by Lakeylon Rice.

That was all Centennial would need against No. 7 Liberty, which had beaten its neighbor the last two seasons. Liberty’s longest drive was 32 yards, which resulted in a field goal. The other scoring drives — of 1 yard and 12 yards — were set up by bad snaps on Centennial punts.

Liberty had a chance to score on its first possession after an interception by Lincoln Williams gave it the ball at the Centennial 31-yard line. But Liberty couldn’t get any closer to the end zone. Not just on that drive, but in the entire first half.

And that’s just the start of how dominant Centennial’s defense was against Liberty. At halftime, Liberty had gained only 32 yards, and its only first down came from a Centennial facemask penalty.

“That was on me,” Appleby said. “That’s mine.”

The senior should certainly be forgiven. He and defensive lineman Kevin Smith dominated up front as Centennial blew up just about everything Liberty attempted. That was especially true in the first half, when six Liberty possessions ended with punts. The other possession was worse, culminating in an interception that Centennial’s Jordan Miller returned 21 yards for a touchdown.

That helped Centennial take a 24-0 lead at the break. Liberty’s hole got deeper when its first possession of the second half led to a punt, which Smith blocked and returned 24 yards for a touchdown.

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